THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. My message to the Cabinet this
morning is this: This administration is not going to rest until every life
can be saved; until families are reconnected; until this recovery is
complete. Our goals -- our immediate goals are these: We want to complete
the search and recovery; we want to restore essential services; we want to
drain the water in the affected areas and begin removing debris; we want to
-- and all are assessing public health and safety matters.

I've asked the Vice President to go down to the affected region on
Thursday. He will go down to assess our recovery efforts. He will help me
determine whether or not we're meeting these goals. He'll work with
Secretary Chertoff and others to make sure that we remove any obstacles,
bureaucratic obstacles that may be preventing us from achieving our goals.
In other words, bureaucracy is not going to stand in the way of getting the
job done for the people.

I was briefed on plans to immediately help our folks; plans to reconnect
families; plans to make sure health care is available -- and Secretary
Leavitt gave me a good brief; plans on housing, both immediate and
long-term housing. Most importantly, I was briefed by members of my
Cabinet about how we're going to make sure that people who are owed a
Social Security check get their Social Security check. At the center in
Baton Rouge I went to yesterday I remember clearly a person saying, "When
am I going to get my Social Security check?" And it's important to note
people understand we have a strategy to make sure the benefits that are due
are going to get to them.

Now, we understand people are scattered out across the country, but we have
an obligation to make sure that whether a veteran's benefit or an
unemployment benefit or a Social Security benefit gets to these people.
And so we will have a strategy in place and we're going to implement that
strategy -- to find people who are in those shelters or in churches or in
private homes -- and get them the benefit.

A lot of people are doing good work. We've got a heck of a lot more work
to do, and that's exactly what this government is going to do.

Q Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Bob.

Q Do you intend to replace any from your administration who are leading
this recovery effort, who were part of the effort last week that has been
so widely criticized?

THE PRESIDENT: What I intend to do is lead a -- to lead an investigation
to find out what went right and what went wrong. And I'll tell you why.
It's very important for us to understand the relationship between the
federal government, the state government and the local government when it
comes to a major catastrophe. And the reason it's important is, is that we
still live in an unsettled world. We want to make sure that we can respond
properly if there's a WMD attack or another major storm. And so I'm going
to find out over time what went right and what went wrong.

Q Sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

Q Secretary Chertoff has talked about being disturbed at the information
-- or lack of information to the state from the region. Just from what you
know initially, do you think that more went wrong at the local or state
level or the federal level? And do you think there should be a commission
to sort it out?

THE PRESIDENT: I think one of the things that people want us to do here is
to play a blame game. We've got to solve problems. We're problem-solvers.
There will be ample time for people to figure out what went right and what
went wrong. What I'm interested in is helping save lives. That's what I
want to do. And I want to make sure those poor folks who have been taken
out of their communities and who -- who live in a -- whose world has been
shattered get the help they need. And then we want to help New Orleans
rebuild, and we want to see Biloxi rise again.

And, you know, I was with the mayor of Waveland the other day, from
Mississippi. His town was completely destroyed. What I'm interested in is
helping that man and that community get back on their feet. That's where
my focus is. There will be ample time to assess -- and we need to assess.
And this administration will be part of the assessment as to what went
wrong, because, I repeat, we've got to have as good a relationship as
possible with all levels of government to be able to respond to major
problems. And if things went wrong, we'll correct them. And when things
went right, we'll duplicate them.

Patsy.

Q Mr. President, on the Supreme Court, do you have a candidate in mind?
And now that you have a second opportunity, are you more inclined to follow
the First Lady's advice and choose a woman?

THE PRESIDENT: First of all, I'm proud of my nominee to be the Chief. And
the goal is to get this good person confirmed by the time the Court
convenes this fall. See, they're going to need their Chief. And,
therefore, the Senate needs to have a -- obviously, a thorough debate about
Judge Roberts and get him confirmed quickly, so that when the Court
convenes there is a Chief Justice. And I was deliberate in my process last
time; I'll be deliberative this time. I obviously interviewed a lot of
good candidates last time; I still will continue to reach out and make sure
every good candidate is considered.

Q Are the same ones on the list, sir? Some of the same ones that you
interviewed last time, are they --

THE PRESIDENT: The list is wide open, which should create some good
speculation here in Washington. (Laughter.) And make sure you notice when
I said that I looked right at Al Gonzales, who can really create
speculation. (Laughter.)

I'm not through yet. But this is important for people to understand. I
want the Senate to focus not on who the next nominee is going to be, but
the nominee I've got up there now. And it's important for the country that
they complete the work. And in the meantime, the country can be assured
that I'll take a good, long look at who should replace Justice O'Connor. I
called her from Air Force One yesterday and told her of my decision to name
John Roberts to be the Chief. And her first reaction was that she better
get back to doing her homework, and she said so somewhat tongue in cheek,
but she's right, she'll be there when the Court is seated with a new Chief
Justice. And then we'll move deliberately to replace Justice O'Connor.